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Alright folks – I know many of you have been seeing this article drift here and there across the Manga and Anime communities. I’m throwing my two cents in here.

Carl Horn’s editorial below states the case very clearly. It should scare the living daylights out of you. Its also not a new fight, its an old fight that people have to fight all the time.

In this particular case, someone is being persecuted for buying manga from Japan. He was originally hit under the PROTECT act — and while some parts of the act have been ruled unconstitutional he is still facing charges for portions of manga that have been labeled as obscene.

Right. This guy had 1200 pieces of general manga and dojinshi. He’s not being charged with selling or distribution, nor is he being charged for having a massive collection of child pornography. He is being charged because “several” images in this massive collection “seem” to depict minors in a sexual act.

Those of you who like to collect books.. Do you know the contect of every single image on your computer or in your house? Say, aren’t there scenes in high school romance manga that depict kissing between minors? Got a piece that’s slightly ecchi in nature? Watch out. The guy ogiling her chest looks like he’s under 18..

At root – an illustration has been labeled obscene. An idea, a thought that was put down on paper has been labeled as offensive and obscene, and deserving of upwards of 20 years in prison. I shouldn’t need to say much about this.

Make your own decision. Don’t take my word on it. My feelings on this are based on my initial read of the case as presented by Carl Horn’s editorial and the CBLDF’s statements. I will freely admit that I don’t have the full picture, I don’t have the prosecution’s case, and I have not see the images in question. Make your own decision.

However, if you want to care about certain basic tenants of our country, freedom of creativity and freedom of thought… Please read up on this case (and others like it) then decide how you feel about it.

… Okay. So this guy wants to make it illegal to hang fake testicles to the back of Trucks or anything else.

What’s next? “We hereby order all animals with testicles hanging more than 1 inch away from their body to be immediately castrated. Your dog Bowser is OBSCENE! And furthermore, EVERY SINGLE ANIMAL IN THE ZOO IS OBSCENE! Stop that monkeys! Chop the balls off of that damned elephant! Oh MY GOD THE HORSES! THE HORSES!!!!!”

…. Some days, I hate living in this country. Too many uptight puritan fools with absolutely nothing better to do.

Okay, see I really couldn’t give two shits about Simpson and this alleged theft. Holy fuck you’d think that Simpson was important, he’s all over CNN.

What I want to mention, along with five million other news bloggers doing the same thing right now, is what I overheard the police spokesperson saying… See, he ended his public statement with a comment that was meant to talk about how the police were committed to being fair etc etc despite this being OJ Simpson…

Instead what he said was, “We are committed to providing a thorough, biased….. investigation. ” Even the newscaster says, “I think he meant to say unbiased..”